Robertson last season had a 4.30 ERA with 52 strikeouts and 30 walks in 52 1/3 innings in 43 games in Triple-A between the Astros and Royals systems. The 27-year-old right-hander pitched in the majors for the Dodgers, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Blue Jays in 2023-24.
David Roth at Defector looked at the last few days, and how the Tucker signing spurred more action and reaction among some top-spending teams. The Mets, who were in on Tucker, pivoted to Bo Bichette, whom they plan to play at a new position. That left the Bichette-pursuing Phillies left empty-handed, and they re-signed catcher JT Realmuto.
Max Muncy’s wife Kellie gave birth to the couple’s third child on Tuesday, a daughter named Macie Grace, which was shared on Instagram:
Dončić injured his groin while warming up before a game against the Sacramento Kings on Monday. He'd managed to play in the three games since the injury, with the team going 1-2 during that stretch.
He is one of three players who have been ruled out for Los Angeles, along with Austin Reaves (left calf strain) and Adou Thiero (right MCL sprain).
Luka Dončić stats
Dončić has averaged 33.6 points, 8.7 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game in 32 games played this season. He ranks first in points and fourth in assists this season.
Who is Luka Dončić's backup?
Kobe Bufkin is listed as the primary backup behind Dončić at point guard, according to ESPN. Bufkin has averaged 1.5 points and two rebounds per game. Gabe Vincent would also be considered. He's averaged 5.1 points and 1.4 assists per game in just 19 games this season, averaging 20.1 minutes per game.
When do Lakers play next?
The Los Angeles Lakers will play the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT). The game will be played at the Moda Center in Portland.
Also, 23 years ago (2002), the Blue Jays traded Brad Fullmer to the Angels for Brian Cooper.
So it is a shared birthday/today in Jays’ history post.
About the trade:
Cooper was an RHP. He was 27 at the time. He pitched for the Angels for portions of three seasons, making 21 starts and 6 relief appearances. He reached 5-10 with a 5.33 ERA in 128 innings, 57 walks, and 58 strikeouts.
Fullmer was also 27 at the time of the trade.
It wasn’t one of J.P. Ricciardi’s better trades. Fullmer was always thought of as a disappointment. Maybe because, as an LHB, he didn’t hit lefties at all. Maybe because Brad really couldn’t play defense. But I wonder why J.P. gave him away so cheaply (perhaps he was tired of paying for cleaning chewing tobacco out of the Skydome’s turf?). Cooper wasn’t much of a pitcher, nor was Brad a great prospect, but Ricciardi must have seen something in Cooper that the rest of us missed. I can’t imagine what he thought he saw. Cooper had as many walks as strikeouts when we traded for him.
The Expos picked Brad in the 2nd round of the 1993 draft. He played two-plus seasons with the Expos and had been a disappointment. He wasn’t very good with the glove at first base, and his bat didn’t show quite as well as the Expos hoped. Nevertheless, he hit .276/.326/.459 with 25 home runs in 259 games with Montreal.
In March 2000, Fullmer was part of a three-team trade between the Expos, Rangers, and Blue Jays. The Rangers sent Lee Stevens to the Expos, the Jays sent David Segui to the Rangers, and the Expos sent Fullmer to the Jays.
Stevens did a good job for the Expos, hitting .243/.334/.450 with 57 home runs in 3 seasons. Segui hit .336/.391/.519 in 93 games, and the Expos traded him to Cleveland for Ricky Ledee. Segui was always good at getting on base, but didn’t have the power you’d like to have from a first baseman.
Fullmer DHed for the Jays for two seasons, hitting .284/.333/.499 with 50 home runs and 187 RBI in 279 games. He had an excellent season in 2000, hitting 32 home runs and driving in 104 runs. If the Jays had a better team, we’d consider Fullmer one of the better DHs in team history.
The trade with the Angels didn’t go well for the Jays.
Fullmer played two seasons for the Angels and hit .294/.367/.521 with 28 home runs and 94 RBI in 193 games. He also starred in the Angels’ 2002 World Series win. He hit .294/.351/.471 in 12 playoff games. Brad also stole home in game two of the World Series as part of a double steal. Pretty crappy defense there, Giants.
Brad signed with the Rangers before the 2004 season. In late June, he hit .233/.310/.442 with 11 home runs, but a knee injury ended his career.
Fullmer played 8 seasons and hit .279/.336/.486 with 114 home runs.
Chad Beck turns 41 today.
Chad was a 43rd-round draft pick in 2004 (the draft is now only 20 rounds). Beck pitched 2.1 innings in 2011 and 15.2 innings in 2012, and that was his career. Only 1 other player picked in that round in 2004 made the majors: Chris Schwinden, who threw 29.2 innings over two seasons. Gotta love guys who beat odds that long.
Also, on January 17, 2011, 15 years ago now, the Jays signed Jon Rauch, without whom we would have never had this:
Kyle Tucker joined the Dodgers, who offered him a cool $240 million for four years, with opt-outs after the second and third years.
More power to him. If you can get that kinda money, get right on it.
This even though I’ve hated the Dodgers from the git-go. I was raised by people who did not adore Brooklyn and were offended hugely by the way the move was done when they Greeley’d. Personally, it was Steve Garvey’s lantern jaw that I remember. It’s like the stinkin’ Cardinals… and that’s not the only parallel.
Now I look at the Dodgers much as I look at the early Cardinals, who owned the entire minor-league system (they were the principal architects of the system and maintained control until they were made to stop). They’re creating a new paradigm, for better or worse.
The Cubs have a new third baseman. You have to like his will to win, and let’s hope that rubs off.
“In October, it’s ‘Alex in Wonderland,’ and it’s a ‘Bregularly’ scheduled event, no doubt.” — Scott Boras.
Oh, and the Cubs Convention is under way. We’ll be back tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel, with more of this.
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The Chicago Cubs have signed Kotaro Tsunematsu to a minor league deal, according to his Instagram.
The 22-year-old outfielder was not selected in the NPB draft. He was later offered a job with Goldman Sachs but turned it down to join the Cubs organization.
“Literally the first second that free agency really opened I felt like we knew the Cubs wanted our family to be here, and we were excited about it,” Bregman, 31, said. “I thought it was trending that way, probably from the beginning of the offseason. They expressed right away that they wanted me. They made it extremely clear that they valued what I valued.”
Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series. We will not wittingly publish A. I. – driven articles or clickbait, and insist on reputable sources.
While much of the baseball-watching public is up in arms about the contracts that Kyle Tucker (Dodgers, four years, $240 million) and Bo Bichette (Mets, three years, $126 million) received this week, we have a much more modest rumor to talk about.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic is reporting that the Orioles, among a few other teams, are interested in 42-year-old righty Justin Verlander. The 20-year MLB vet and future Hall of Famer spent the 2025 season with the San Francisco Giants, where he had a 3.85 ERA over 152 innings.
Rosenthal clarifies that a deal between the Orioles and Verlander “is not close.” The O’s have their sights set on a bigger rotation upgrade, but those options are waning. Framber Valdez is the big free agent still on the market, above the likes of Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito, and Chris Bassitt. There are some intriguing trade options, including Tarik Skubal, Freddy Peralta, and Mackenzie Gore, but they are expected to require a big prospect haul to land. Verlander would represent a Plan B.
Some will recall that this is not the first time that Verlander and the Mike Elias-led Orioles have been linked. Back in 2023, there was some speculation that the O’s could trade for the him when he was then on the Mets. At the time, he was still viewed as an ace, having posted a 1.75 ERA over 175 innings in 2022 and then looking solid again for a disappointing Mets squad halfway through ‘23. Ultimately, Verlander returned to the Astros, and the Orioles traded for Jack Flaherty instead. Both teams would be beaten by the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers in the playoffs.
Whomever signs Verlander will not be getting the peak version, obviously. His velocity and strikeout numbers are more modest than they once were. He hasn’t thrown 200 innings in a season since 2019. And you could understand Orioles fans having some trepidation here after the club suffered through the Charlie Morton experience last summer, a pitcher from the same era as Verlander.
But the Orioles rotation is in a better spot now than it was when Morton was added a year ago. Morton was expected to come in and be one of the better pitchers on a unit that lacked an ace. Verlander would slot somewhere behind Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers, and be counted on for innings and guidance rather than ace-level performance. The upside of the rotation would be left to the duo ahead of him, the newly acquired Shane Baz, and the potential emergence or prospect Trey Gibson.
Adding a 42-year-old pitcher is never going to be the safest move, and it would certainly be a disappointment for fans that have been hoping for a bonafide ace at the zenith of their powers. But you could also do a lot worse than a proven winner like Verlander.
Links
Orioles Among Teams With Interest In Justin Verlander | MLB Trade Rumors Here is the MLBTR writeup of the above-mentioned report from The Athletic. If Elias and the Orioles’ front office isn’t in love with the more expensive options, signing a veteran like Verlander makes a ton of sense. He would be cheaper ($15 million salary in 2025) than some of the other arms out there, and it may keep their options open for a splashy trade in-season.
Some random thoughts and more mailbag questions | Roch Kubatko Not much in here apart from Roch reassuring us all that the Orioles are in hot pursuit of pitching upgrades. The quality of those upgrades is unclear. But no one is saying that they are out on Valdez or anyone else.
Busy week for Orioles as Framber Valdez remains unsigned | Baltimore Baseball For a long time I thought the Orioles could land Valdez if he was willing to take a short-term, high AAV deal. But I wasn’t aware of just how high some of these AAVs were gonna go. Tucker just got $60 million AAV, and then Bichette landed $42 million AAV. Are the Orioles interested in that stratosphere of a deal? Ehhh.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
Rob Bell turns 49 today. He pitched in 30 games out of the Orioles bullpen in 2007, sporting a 5.94 ERA over 53 total innings.
The late Dick Brown (b. 1935, d. 1970) was born on this day. From 1963 through ‘65, he shared catching duties on the Orioles with John Orsino. Brown’s time with the Orioles, and playing career in general, was ended by a brain tumor that eventually took his life several years later.
It is a posthumous celebration for Jay Heard (b. 1920, d. 1999). The left-handed pitcher was the franchise’s first African-American player after their move to Baltimore. He would pitch in just two games for the 1954 squad.
This day in O’s history
January 17 has been a quiet day in Orioles history, according to Baseball Reference. Maybe that will change today. For now, here are some happenings from beyond Birdland:
1920 – The Volstead Act goes into effect in the United States, beginning Alcohol Prohibition.
1950 – The Great Brinks Robbery: More than $2 million is stolen from an armored car company’s offices in Boston by a team of 11 thieves. At the time, it was the largest robbery in United States history and went unsolved for nearly six years.
2013 – Highly-decorated former cyclist Lance Armstrong confesses to doping throughout his career during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The weekend is a great time to kick back and reflect. This Week in Purple is the place to catch up on the news from our team at Purple Row. You’ll find links to Rockpiles and other content below as well as a platform for community discussion in the comments.
The Colorado Rockies released their preliminary promotional schedule for the 2026 season. It’s sparse at the moment, but the Rockies have assured us that there will be more coming so stay tuned!
But in the meantime, here are the giveaways and theme dates as of Friday:
April
Friday, April 3: Rockies Home Opener, 2026 Magnet Schedule (all fans)
Saturday, April 4: Jersey Sweatshirt (first 15,000 fans)
WENGEN, Switzerland (AP) — Marco Odermatt already has no equals on the World Cup skiing circuit.
Now the Swiss star is set to claim the record in the biggest event on home snow, too.
Odermatt led a shortened race Saturday to set up his fourth career downhill victory in Wengen – breaking a tie for the most downhill victories on the famed Lauberhorn course with Franz Klammer and Beat Feuz.
Austrian standout Klammer claimed his three Wengen downhill wins in the 1970s while Feuz, another Swiss skier, claimed his third victory in 2020.
What’s more is that Odermatt’s four wins would come in succession.
Odermatt finished a massive 0.79 seconds ahead of Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr and 0.90 ahead of Italy's Giovanni Franzoni, who claimed his first caeer victory in Friday's super-G.
Lower-ranked skiers were still coming down the course.
Strong winds prompted organizers to drastically shorten the course — making the narrow and tactical “Kernen S” section the key to the race. Odermatt mastered the section perfectly and carried away a faster speed on the exit than anyone else.
Franjo von Allmen and Alexis Money, two other Swiss skiers, stood fourth and fifth, respectively.
Von Allmen, the world champion in downhill last season, took a riskier approach and skied into a television camera lining the course inside the “S” section. Then he crashed in the finish area — although appeared unhurt.
Dominik Paris of Italy was sixth after registering the top speed at 151.57 kph (94 kph).
It’s the first of the two weekends at the circuit’s classic venues, with Kitzbuehel, Austria, up next. Then the focus will switch to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy — with the men to ski in Bormio.
Overall, it was set to be Odermatt’s 52nd World Cup victory, moving him within two wins of matching Hermann Maier for third place on the all-time men’s list. He's also got a massive lead in the standings as he chases a fifth consecutive overall World Cup title.
Odermatt immediately knew he had done something special again, screaming with delight in the finish area and waving to the crowd, which was made up almost entirely of fans waving Swiss flags.
Pittsburgh Penguins -22-14-10 - 54 Points - 7-2-1 in the last 10 - Won 1 - 3rd in the Metro
Columbus Blue Jackets - 21-19-7 - 49 Points - 5-4-1 in the last 10 - Won 3 Straight - 7th in the Metro
Blue Jackets Stats
Power Play - 20.3% - 15th in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 74.2% - 29th in the NHL
Goals For - 140 - 19th in the NHL
Goals Against - 156 - 29th in the NHL
PenguinsStats
Power Play - 29.4% - 2nd in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 83.2% - 7th in the NHL
Goals For - 146 - 17th in the NHL
Goals Against - 134 - 10th in the NHL
Series History vs. ThePenguins
Columbus is 19-30-0-11 all-time, and 6-19-0-5 at home vs. Pittsburgh.
The Blue Jackets are 4-1-2 in the last 7, and 5-4-3 in the last 12 against the Pens.
The CBJ are 1-0-2 against Pittsburgh this season, and 1-0-0 at PPG Paints Arena.
Who To Watch For ThePenguins
Sidney Crosby leads the team with 25 goals and 51 points.
Erik Karlsson leads the Pens with 29 assists, but he's on IR.
Goalie Arturs Silovs is 8-6-7 with a SV% .892%.
Stuart Skinner is a combined 15-12-4 with a SV% of 2.62 with Pittsburgh and Edmonton.
CBJ Player Notes vs.Penguins
Zach Werenski has 17 points in 24 games vs. the Penguins.
Charlie Coyle has 22 points in 37 games.
Sean Monahan has 15 points in 26 career games against Pittsburgh.
Injuries
Isac Lundeström - Lower Body - Missed 11 Games - IR
Brendan Smith - Lower Body - Missed 9 Games IR - Out 3-4 months after having knee surgery.
Miles Wood - Lower Body - Missed 8 Games - IR - Week to week.
Mason Marchment - Upper Body - Missed 6 Games - Week to week.
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 127
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FANDUEL SPORTS NETWORK. Steve Mears will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan, with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.
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YANBU, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Luciano Benavides exploited a navigation blunder by Ricky Brabec minutes from the finish of the Dakar Rally to sensationally win the motorbike title on Saturday by two seconds — the smallest margin ever.
Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Attiyah safely secured his sixth car title on the 13th and final stage, a flat-out 105-kilometer sprint along the Red Sea coast to Yanbu.
Brabec was hurtling toward his third Dakar victory. While Benavides' KTM was faster in real time, Brabec's Honda was collecting time bonuses for opening the way and extending his overnight lead of 3 minutes, 20 seconds.
Then seven kilometers from the finish Brabec took a wrong turn. Benavides didn't. He saw a headlight turn around and slowed to see who it was. When he realized it was Brabec, Benavides knew the “almost impossible” was possible.
“I saw the opportunity and I took it,” he said. “I felt ready all day. I told everyone at the start of the stage ‘This Dakar is for me.’”
Benavides finished second on the stage to teammate Edgar Canet, who won his third stage of this Dakar. When Brabec arrived 3:22 behind Benavides, the Argentine's team lifted him on their shoulders and shouted “Lu-chan-oh, Lu-chan-oh.”
“It's unreal,” Benavides said. “Two seconds after two weeks and almost 8,000 kilometers is something that is hard to understand.”
The previous closest margin was 43 seconds by Luciano's older brother Kevin. That was another stunning comeback. Kevin started the 2023 final stage 12 seconds behind and won his second motorbike title.
Brabec's Honda teammate Tosha Schareina was a distant third after coming second last year.
Luciano started his ninth Dakar never having reached the podium and just three months after tearing knee ligaments in the Moroccan Rally.
Even after he started the second week with consecutive stage wins, he rode in the shadow of teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders, who was dominating the race until he crashed on Wednesday and broke his collarbone and sternum. Sanders continued practically riding one-handed and finished fifth for valuable points in the defense of his world rally-raid title.
Brabec won Friday's stage to gather an overall lead that even Benavides thought “was mathematically almost impossible” to overcome.
But, he said, “I never stopped believing. For me there was no strategy any days, I just give my best. I never tried to slow down. I feel bad for Ricky. He did a mistake and (it) cost (him) the Dakar.”
No. 6 for Al-Attiyah
Al-Attiyah confirmed his sixth car title — two behind the record of former teammate Stéphane Peterhansel -- and first for Dacia after a cautious final drive, nearly nine minutes behind Mattias Ekström, who won his car-leading fourth stage.
Nani Roma could hack only six minutes off the overall leader's pace and Al-Attiyah ultimately beat Roma by 9:42, easily the lowest margin of his six victories.
Al-Attiyah has won for four different manufacturers in 2011 and 2015 in Argentina, in 2019 in Peru and in 2022, 2023 and this year in Saudi.
Roma, the 2014 car champion, earned his first podium finish since 2019. Ekström's Ford held off Sébastien Loeb's Dacia by 37 seconds for consecutive third-place finishes.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are not sure how long they will be without William Nylander as they navigate the second occurrence of a lower-body injury for their star forward.
“He’s being evaluated still (to see) where he's at. He's doubtful for tomorrow,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said following the club’s practice in Las Vegas on Friday.
Nylander left early in the first period of the club’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday with what the coach confirmed was an aggravation of the previous lower-body injury that kept the Swede out of the lineup for six games. Despite being limited to just 2:17 of ice time in the game, he scored a goal and added an assist.
Berube was cautious to put any sort of timeline on how long he expected Nylander might be out, given that he thought the Swede’s previous injury was minor.
“Right now I can't answer that because with the last one, I thought it would be quicker, and it obviously wasn't,” Berube admitted. “We'll just see how he feels here going forward. I mean, can't really answer that question”.
The Leafs enter Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets sitting two points out of a playoff position. The Leafs were resilient without Nylander during his previous injury, going 4-0-2 in that stretch.
However, Nylander isn’t the only player battling something right now. Matthew Knies, John Tavares, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Joseph Woll stayed off the ice for what Berube described as maintenance. Knies dealt with a nagging lower-body injury earlier this season and stayed off the ice for the full morning skate ahead of the club’s game against the Golden Knights on Thursday.
Joseph Woll isn’t taking part in a rare Leafs practice today, which means Anthony Stolarz gets his own net as he continues to recover from injury.
There is still no public timeline on Stolarz’ return.
(Also absent today: Nylander, Tavares, Knies, and Ekman-Larsson.)
Ekman-Larsson briefly departed the game in the first period shortly after what looked like a possible knee-on-knee collision with Golden Knights forward Cole Reinhardt, but managed to come back in the second period and finish out the game.
With Nylander out, expect Calle Jarnkrok to draw back into the Leafs lineup. He has six goals in 28 games this season. Nylander leads all Leafs in scoring with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) in 37 games.
In the midst of what has easily been their worst stretch of games all season, the Philadelphia Flyers have gotten at least some positive news in the form of the latest injury update regarding goalie Dan Vladar.
Panic seeped through the Flyers fanbase when the 28-year-old suffered an unknown injury early in the game against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, and understandably so: the Flyers don't have anything close to a replacement for Vladar.
Backup goalie Sam Ersson has a porous .853 save percentage on the season, which includes his relief appearance for Vladar in the aforementioned game against Buffalo.
Top prospect Aleksei Kolosov, while revitalizing his career in the AHL with a renewed sense of belonging, is still unproven.
The good news for the Flyers, and perhaps for the two understudy goalkeepers, is that Vladar is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, according to multiple reports.
NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jordan Hall was able to confirm that Vladar won't play for the Flyers at home on Saturday afternoon when the free-falling New York Rangers come to town.
So, while Ersson and/or Kolosov will need to handle business against a division rival and attempt to snap a five-game losing streak, it goes without saying that things could have gone significantly worse.
As in, season-crippling worse.
Kolosov, 24, allowed three goals on 16 shots in relief of Ersson against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 6-3 loss on Thursday night, seeing his first NHL action since making a spot start for the Flyers against the Calgary Flames back on Nov. 2.
The Flyers would probably benefit from giving Ersson a rest and seeing what Kolosov can do with another opportunity against the Rangers, but that has yet to be decided at the time of this writing.
41 games down and 41 games to go. Seems like a fair spot to take pulse of how the Spurs season is going thus far.
To be clear, the Spurs have been exceeding expectations all season. They have adjusted to multiple players being injured at various times. From different starting lineups to a spree of seven straight games were the leading scorer was a different member of the squad, the players continue to elevate their on-court connections when it has mattered most.
One of the most telling aspects of the Spurs depth was when they went 9-4 while the emerging superstar was sidelined with a calf strain.
That said, they’re not perfect. They came up short in the NBA Emirates Cup. But be honest, at the beginning of the season did anyone see them making it that far? They’re the only team to have bested the NBA champs three times, but it’s the most recent meeting that still hurts. And I don’t know about you, but when I watch Victor Wembanyama, I see all the greatness a generational player has, and in one moment he makes some move that leaves me shaking my head.
One of the best highlights this season is watching Mitch Johnson come into his own as the official head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. His press conferences reveal a young, confident leader who is aware of where he and the team are. He’s not afraid to let them grow at a natural pace. It’s his pre-and post-game conferences bring the viewer into his mindset. One more than one occasion I have been reminded of just how young Wemby is. And all of a sudden I don’t see a bumbled play, I see the potential that Coach Johnson sees.
Patience has been the watchword ever since Wembanyama was drafted. For many fans, a couple of years is too long to wait. We must keep in mind that since Wemby donned a Spurs cap on draft night the team has added another Rookie of the Year, a nineteen-year-old downhill guard who plays beyond his years, and the 2023 Clutch Player of the Year.
When fans take a moment to realize that Fox and Wemby have barely played two dozen games together, restraint on everyone’s part is really unwarranted.
Although the team is young and developing, they’ve managed to bring in a great mix of experience. Fox, Luke Kornet, Kelly Olynyk, and Bismack Biyombo can offer so much. Even the latter two who aren’t getting as many minutes offer a valued presence and support to a locker room full of youth and vitality.
41 games down. With a record of 28-13 they are on pace to end the year with a record of wins in the mid-50s, a best since the 2016-2017 season.
Lots to celebrate and lots to be excited about.
How are you feeling now that the season is halfway done?
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I remember last January like it is burned into my brain. As the season hit the halfway point, you could feel the dread creeping in from the corners. The Suns were 21-20, and even then it felt like the ground was already shifting beneath them. Everyone knew the January schedule was supposed to be soft. The hope was that it would act as a springboard after months of underwhelming basketball. Instead, it felt like borrowed time.
Bradley Beal was moved to the bench. Jusuf Nurkic followed, playing his final game as a Sun on January 7 before getting dealt on February 6. The whispers were getting louder. Discontent hung in the air. Mike Budenholzer was yanking every lever he could find, searching for a spark. Any spark. From the outside, it felt like watching a car crash unfold in real time. Every adjustment seemed to stack on top of the last, and nothing slowed the impact.
We know how the story ended.
A year later, I still find myself shaking my head at where this team is and how it got here. Back then, it felt like the only path forward was detonation. Strip it down. Cash in the most valuable assets. Escape the weight of bad decisions, a miserable season, and a cap sheet that read like a cautionary tale. There did not seem to be an exit ramp. It felt boxed in. Trapped.
And yet, here we are.
One year later, there is hope. There is a team worth investing in emotionally again. A group that plays with a style, toughness, and grit that actually mirrors the city it represents. Living in a desert is not normal. Enduring more than 100 days a year above 100° is absurd. That kind of environment hardens you. It demands thick skin. Stubbornness. A little bit of madness. The Suns are starting to personify that. Tough. Relentless. Slightly unhinged in the best way.
So now that we have hit the halfway point, it felt like the right time to take a step back and look at this team year over year. Five different statistics. One simple question. How different does this feel from where the Suns were at this same point a season ago?
Record
Last Year: 21-10 This Year: 24-17
Yes, we start with the record. On paper, the Suns are only three games better than they were a season ago, but the trajectory tells a completely different story. They sit seventh in the Western Conference and are within three games of the four seed.
Last season, they were 21-0 at this same point, but the path there was shaky. They stumbled to a 16-19 mark through their first 35 games, then rattled off five wins in six just to claw back to respectability. That surge landed them in the 10 seed. It never felt stable. It never felt sustainable. This version of the Suns does.
Ratings
Last Year: 114.2 OFF (10th), 115.3 DEF (22nd), -1.1 NET (17th) This Year: 114.5 OFF (16th), 112.1 DEF (5th), +2.3 NET (11th)
You can feel the difference between this team and last year’s group almost immediately. Last season’s Suns were built around offense. When you have Kevin Durant, you are going to score, and most nights it is going to be efficient. That part always showed up. It was never the concern. The problem was everything wrapped around it. The defense was a mess, and through the first 41 games, they sat at a -1.1 net rating. That told the real story.
This season has flipped the script. The offense can bog down at times, and that is part of why the return of Jalen Green looms so large, because he is an offense-based player who can tilt the floor. But the foundation is different now. The Suns are sitting at a 112.1 defensive rating, fifth best in the league. That defense has pushed them to a +2.3 net rating, which ranks 11th overall.
It is a thin line, but it matters. Last year’s Suns were a bottom-half net rating team. This year’s group lives on the other side of that divide. That is not noise. That is a shift.
Three-Pointers
Last Year: 571 This Year: 594
How many times did I beat the three-point drum last season? With Mike Budenholzer coming in, the assumption was simple. More threes. That was supposed to be the offensive shift. And sure enough, the Suns are taking more threes this season than they did a year ago.
But the real wrinkle is not only that they are letting it fly. It is what is happening on the other end. This team is active. Disruptive. Annoying in the best way. They already have 431 steals this season, second most in the entire league. Last year’s group was at 317 through 41, which ranked 22nd. That gap tells you everything.
The threes are part of the story. The defense is the headline.
Plus/minus is a fickle stat. It gets weaponized far too often in single-game debates. Even over a week, I do not lean on it much, because it is so dependent on who you share the floor with. I could be out there doing absolutely nothing, but if Devin Booker rattles off 15 points in a quarter while I am standing next to him, congratulations, I am a +15.
Over 41 games, though, it starts to tell you something real. And the difference between this season and last season is loud. A 151-point swing in the positive direction.
This is not the offensive machine that last year’s blueprint was chasing. And I am fine with that. This team has something far more valuable. A defense that can actually shut people down. That defensive backbone is what shows up in this metric. I will take the ability to stop someone every time over trying to bludgeon teams with offense.
Maybe that is the scar tissue talking. I am a product of the Seven Seconds or Less era. I watched those Suns teams light up scoreboards year after year. Beautiful basketball. Historic offense. And every postseason, when it came time to get one stop, they could not do it. That lesson sticks. Defense travels. Defense survives. And this version of the Suns finally understands that.
Deflections
Last Year: 589 (26th) This Year: 829 (6th)
This team hustles. We have seen it all season, and it is one of the reasons people connect with this group. You cannot flip the game off because they are down 15 in the first half. Not with this team. They keep coming. They keep scrapping. They do the small things that drag them back into games possession by possession.
Deflections tell that story better than almost anything. It is the clearest measure of effort. Are you standing around watching the ball move, or are you hunting passing lanes? Are you sitting back, or are you crowding entry passes and making life uncomfortable? This season, the difference is not subtle. It is not even close compared to last year.
That single statistic captures what your eyes already tell you every night. This team plays harder. It plays with intent. And that hustle is the foundation of everything else they have built.
What a difference a year makes for Phoenix. Thru 41 games last year vs this year.
Deflections: Last year: 589 (26th) This year: 829 (6th)
I did not think we would get here. Not this fast. I was bracing myself for a rebuild and thankful it has been, on the surface, a successful retool. Credit where it belongs. Mat Ishbia. Brian Gregory. The decision to bring in Jordan Ott. Those moves are the reason we can even have these conversations right now.
Watching this team does not feel like homework anymore. It feels energizing. You tune in to see how aggressive they are going to be, how hard they are going to play, how they try to impose themselves on the game.
One of my favorite parts of this season, especially as someone who hosts a post-game podcast after every game, has been lurking in opposing teams’ subreddits. It is unfiltered chaos in there. Sometimes insightful. Sometimes completely unhinged. But there is one consistent theme that keeps popping up: nobody wants to play Phoenix.
Opposing fans keep comparing this team to the Bad Boys Pistons from the late 80s. Annoying. Disruptive. Physical. A team they complain about while secretly respecting. They might hate Grayson Allen. They might hate Dillon Brooks. But they all say the same thing. They would love those guys on their roster. That is what the Suns have become in one season.
Last year, this was a cupcake team. A date circled on the schedule. A matador defense where stars could stroll in, put up numbers, and leave happy. This year is different. Sure, the flight to the Valley in January still sounds nice. Warm weather. Sunshine. But once you walk into that arena, you know exactly what you are in for. A dog fight. I will take that version of the Suns every single time.
Who:Columbus Blue Jackets (21-19-7, 49 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (22-14-10, 54 points, 3rd place Metropolitan Division)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Locally televised on SportsNet Pittsburgh and FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: This is the last game the Penguins will be playing in Pittsburgh for almost two weeks. The Pens are about to take off on a West Coast road swing through Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver over the next eight days, starting with a 5 p.m. ET Monday game against the Kraken.
Opponent Track: The Jackets are heading into the weekend on a three-game win streak. Elvis Merzlikins had a succinct answer when asked Thursday what’s changed for the Jackets:
3 wins in a row what’s different for the Blue Jackets?
Season Series: This marks the last time the Jackets and Pens will meet this season. All three prior games in this season series have gone to overtime, with the Penguins losing in a shootout in October but winning in overtime in November and earlier this month.
Hidden Stat: The Penguins are in a playoff spot in no small part thanks to their success against division opponents this season. Including their 2-0-1 record against the Blue Jackets, the Pens have gone 9-1-3 against teams in the Metropolitan Division so far this season. (Last season, Pittsburgh missed the playoffs after going 9-13-4 against division opponents).
Injured Reserve: Brendan Smith, Isac Lundestrom, Miles Wood, Mason Marchment
Blue Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk is day-to-day after taking a hard hit from Brandon Tanev during the Jackets’ Sunday win over the Utah Mammoth. Columbus general manager Don Waddell said the team doesn’t expect the injury to be long-term.
Coaching change in Columbus: The Blue Jackets fired former coach Dean Evason last week after one and a half seasons and a 19-19-7 start to the 2025-26 campaign. Evason told The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline he was “blindsided” by his dismissal.
The switch allowed the Jackets to bring in Rick Bowness, 70, who had most recently coached the Winnipeg Jets for two seasons from 2022 to 2024. He hasn’t been with the team for very long— he got the job offer Monday afternoon and joined the team Tuesday morning, per ESPN— but he’s since led the Jackets to wins over the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.
Kent Johnson played a season-high 20:55 during his first game with Bowness. The Jackets could be hoping to see some more production from the second-line winger if he keeps getting more playing time going forward.
Like the Penguins, the Blue Jackets have at times had a problems with holding on to late leads through the first half of the season. They blew third-period leads 15 times in their first 47 games, per Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. When asked about that habit after the Jackets held on to a comfortable lead in Thursday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks, Bowness said, per Portzline: “I don’t even worry about it. It was before I got here. I’m just not worried about it… That’s in the past. I know how I want us to play, so that’s the bottom line. And we’re building on that.”
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov – Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin
Anthony Mantha – Ben Kindel – Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Brett Kulak / Kris Letang
Parker Wotherspoon / Jack St. Ivany
Ryan Shea / Connor Clifton
Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Ryan Graves, Kevin Hayes
IR: Erik Karlsson, Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones, Rutger McGroarty
The Penguins had an off day Friday after Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Flyers.
Sidney Crosby has 69 points (24 goals, 45 assists) in 48 career games against the Blue Jackets, which ranked behind only Patrick Kane for the most among any active NHL player. Kris Letang meanwhile leads all NHL defensemen with 14 goals against the Blue Jackets, his highest total against any single team, per Penguins PR.
The Penguins are 14-1-4 in their last 19 games against the Blue Jackets, and they’re 16-0-2 in their last 18 games against the Jackets at home, per Penguins PR.
The Pens’ special teams have been thriving lately. They’re heading into Saturday’s matchup having gone 16-for-16 on the PK over their last four games, and they’re currently ranked second in the NHL with a 29.4 percent power-play success rate.
